By The Bakersfield Californian

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KERN RIVER: DFW has planted all sections of the upper and lower river last week and the upper river got fish again this week. The trout bite has been very good on the planted fish for anglers fishing salmon eggs and crickets. The fly anglers are also seeing very good action on wild fish in the upper stretches. The lower river continues to have a good bass bite and the water has cleared up dramatically. Top areas are in the Rancheria, Hart Park and Ming Lake stretches. Many anglers wading the river.

AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: Good to excellent for small stripers and catfish. Stripers mostly 15- 17 inches, but there is an occasional keeper. Catfish slowed.

MILL CREEK PARK: Good bite on bluegill with a few bass also showing in the evening. No catfish reports.

RIVER WALK PARK LAKE: First trout plant of the season this week. Good action on the usual baits and lures. The bluegill bite remains the best bet. Carp are also showing. Bass are fair.

WOOLLOMES LAKE: First trout plant of the season this week. Good action on small trout jigs and PowerBait. Good action on bluegill with a few bass being caught.

SUCCESS LAKE: Good bluegill action and nice stringers of fish showing up along most shoreline areas with some structure. The bass bite has also remained good. Lots of one to 2-pound fish and bass to 6 pounds reported.

KAWEAH LAKE: The bluegill action is good, and the catfish bite has been fair to good. Bass bite has been fair to good best.

Other regional lakes

CACHUMA: Good catfish bite on fish to 6 pounds. Bass bite fair.

CASITAS: Bass action fair.

CASTAIC: The striper bite has continued fair to good. Catfish fair in Elizabeth Canyon.

NACIMIENTO: Best action continues to be for catfish on cut baits and nightcrawlers with fish to 10 pounds or better reported. There is also a good bluegill bite in most of the coves.

LOPEZ: Bass, bluegill, redear fair.

PIRU: Largemouth bite good.

PYRAMID: Lots of small stripers from 10 to 12 inches showing but few bigger fish. The largemouth bass bite has been very good all over the lake.

BRIDGEPORT REGION: Good trout action on the East Walker River but the flows remain low (25 cfs). Bridgeport Reservoir is finally starting to improve. Kirman Lake is good and getting better by the day. The Twin Lake has improved with pretty good action for both shore and boat anglers as night get chilly. Lots of pan-sized fish and some rainbows to four pounds. The West Walker River remains a hot spot in this region. Virginia Lakes are also excellent with limits common.

JUNE LAKE LOOP-LEE VINING REGION: Silver Lake has been very good. Grant Lake has been producing a few nice browns and rainbows. Gull and June are also good with a lot of fish from one to two pounds on both baits and lures, and June has consistently been cranking out four to six-pound fish each week, especially for trollers. Rush Creek has been fair to good on holdover trout. Saddlebag Lake and the area creeks are all very good thanks to plants this week.

MAMMOTH AREA: Convict Lake and Convict Creek have both been good this week with light fishing pressure and good action. Crowley Lake has very low water levels but good fishing. Lots of fish up into the four-pound class with some bigger browns. The fish are stacked up in the bigger bays with water inflows. The Twin Lakes and Lake Mary are fair to good on rainbows and brookies. Hot Creek has been fair to good with good caddis and midge activity and some mayfly activity early in the morning. The upper Owens River remains fair to good. Rock Creek Lake is fair to good with some limits.

BISHOP AND BIG PINE AREA: The fishing has continued fair to good in deeper water in what would normally be behind the Island or taking a bit of a hike to the front of the back natural lake. The deep water bites have been on nightcrawlers or PowerBait. Bishop Creek has been very good with very low flows in the South Fork now that South Lake is at minimum pool. Weir Pond is good with a lot of limits of stocker rainbows and a few wild fish. North Lake and Intake II have been the hot spots in the drainage. North Lake has seen excellent action all of this past week for both bait and lure anglers. Intake II might even be better with limits reported for most anglers, including some bigger fish to five pounds. South Lake is at minimum pool and fishing is slow. Best action at Owens inlet and at the dam. The Owens Gorge is good on small browns.

LONE PINE TO INDEPENDENCE AREA: Most of the small streams along Highway 395 in the Eastern Sierra are still fishing well, but no plants this week.

OFFSHORE BITE STILL WIDE OPEN: The offshore bite has just remain exceptional for the San Diego fleet. The fish are mostly 80 to 140 miles from Point Loma with big numbers of bluefin and yellowtail and lots of mixed schools of yellowfin and dorado still in the mix. Most overnight and 1 1/2-day boats are getting from 150 to 200 mixed fish, and that usually equates to limits of yellowtail, yellowfin and/or bluefin and then a fair number of dorado. The mid-week trips have light loads and trips are already being cancelled because of a lack of angler traffic. Weekend trips are still mostly full.

LOCAL ISLANDS UPDATE: There continues to be a very good rockfish bite off both Catalina and the Channel Islands, along with a few yellowtail. Catalina also has a lot of bonito on the front side. Up in the Channel Island, limits of rockfish have been the rule in recent day, even on half-day boats, and thereÃ­s a pretty good pick on lings and whitefish. The Island Tak out of Channel Islands Sportfishing was on a charter with seven anglers Tuesday and they caught 31 calico bass, five barracuda, three ling cod and four yellowtail. San Clemente continues to produce a fair number of yellowtail for private boats, but it slowed from last week.

NEARSHORE BITE ALL ROCKFISH: Little change along the coast with almost all of the half- and three-quarter day sportboats from Oceanside to the Channel Islands focusing on the excellent rockfish action all along the coast. The average has been half-limits for the half-day boats and three-quarter to full limits on the longer trips. There has been a few sand bass, sculpin, and more halibut.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.